Respected sir/madam,
I flew to Hong Kong on the 27th of March 2011, and intended to fly back to France on the 3rd of April. I arrived early for my scheduled flight on the 3rd. Upon checking I was rejected for boarding by their counter staff with my valid Hong Kong passport and my temporary residence permit which was valid until May. I ensured her that I could just fly with my Hong Kong passport, then she was not sure that she had to asked another staff . Then the woman told me that I had to apply for a visa or buy another return ticket. I argued with her that both of my documents were valid, and I did not need a visa with my Hong Kong passport, again she was not sure that she had to call someone. As the scheduled time of the flight grew nearer, my anxiety level grew as well, but she just kept asking me to wait. As I was rushing back to France for my job, I told her that I could not miss the flight. Then she told me that the only solution was to buy another ticket from a special counter. There was where my frustration reached its peak: I was asked to pay 28, 000 HKD (about 3, 600 US dollars)! I could not even pay for a new ticket. Finally I missed my flight.\r\nWhen I was very desperate and angry, the woman took me to see the “expert” near the counter. I questioned about why I needed a visa by showing all my documents, he had a look, hesitated, and then told me that “it was possible that I needed a visa”. He was apparently not sure. With all their “professional staff” and expert, nobody could solve my problem, and I was ultimately left alone. That was really a terrible experience and that also gave me a lot of troubles with my work!\r\nThe next day, I called the French Consulate and they ensured me that my document was valid and that I did not need a visa with my Hong Kong passport. Still, I had to buy another return ticket to come back to France. When I arrived in Paris, I asked the customs at the airport, and they told me that I could travel freely to France even just with my Hong Kong passport, that Air France had NO reason to have rejected my boarding. I wrote a letter of complaint to their company, I even went to the local customer service centre in Nantes and they never replied. I wrote an email again to the customer service centre and they were so arrogant to reply me that they had every right to reject any customer, without any explanation. I think their service is absolutely not up to the standard of a high quality airline! I am very disappointed about them! I will try my best to stay away from this airline!